obt
obt — abbreviation
1. a short written form of 'obedient', used in old formal letters right before a cl
a short written form of 'obedient', used in old formal letters right before a closing phrase that shows respect toward the person receiving the letter
Colonel Ashford closed his letter with 'Your obt. servant' and sealed it with red wax.
phrase: 'Your obt. servant' in historical letter closings
In the 1800s clerks signed business letters 'Your obt. humble servant' before their names.
common pattern: 'Your obt. [adjective] servant'
The museum's archive contains a letter from 1892 signed 'Your obt. daughter, Margaret.'
Shirin found an old letter in the attic signed 'Your most obt. friend, J. Pembroke.'
Historians recognise 'obt.' in Victorian correspondence as short for 'obedient' in polite closings.
- obedient
the full form that 'obt.' abbreviates; used in the same historical closing formulas
文法句型
obt. + servant / humble servant
用法筆記
This abbreviation appears almost exclusively in historical or formal written correspondence before the 20th century. Modern English no longer uses it.
常見錯誤
2. a Latin abbreviation for 'obit' (meaning he or she died), written before a date
a Latin abbreviation for 'obit' (meaning he or she died), written before a date of death in old church records, gravestones, or obituaries
The gravestone read 'John H. Graves, obt. 14 March 1847, aged 72 years.'
pattern: 'obt. + [date]' on gravestones
Genealogists searching parish records found 'obt.' written before each burial date in the 1700s.
The old church register listed 'Elias Ward, obt. 3 January 1821, buried in the churchyard.'
Adaeze found the abbreviation 'obt.' next to several names while reading 19th-century death records.
Greta translated Latin records where each entry listed a name then 'obt.' and a date.
文法句型
obt. + [date]
用法筆記
The abbreviation comes from Latin 'obit' (third-person singular perfect of 'obire', literally 'to go to meet', used euphemistically for 'to die'). It is most commonly found in British parish registers from the 16th to 19th centuries.